New Comics (02-20-2019)

Welcome to another edition of New Comics, where we give our suggestions on what books to pick up when perusing the comic shelves week to week. As always, I am joined by Kris Johnson. Read on to find the best of what the comic shop has in store for you this week.

BITTER ROOT #4 $3.99 (Image) – The Sangerye continue their generations-long battle against the Jinoo in the latest issue of this excellent new series by Sanford Greene and David F. Walker. Last issue, we learned a long lost member of the family is coming home to Harlemwhile. Another has been corrupted by the Jinoo and may not be long for this world. Combining mysticism and folklore rooted in African-American culture with a propulsive action-adventure story, Bitter Root is a book that finds itself launched to the top of my “To Read” pile. Give it a read, will ya? This book deserves an audience. (Kris)

BATGIRL YEAR ONE DELUXE ED HC $34.99 (DC Comics) – 16 years ago, Scott Beatty, Chuck Dixon, Marcos Martin and Alvaro Lopez brought us one of the best Batgirl stories ever! Babs Gordon perseveres and becomes a bad-ass vigilante to stick it to both Batman and her dad, good ol’ Jimmy Gordon! Now this awesome series has gotten the DELUXE EDITION treatment. Pick it up and feel comfort in the fact that you made a wise choice with this purchase. (Andrew)

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #2 $3.99 (Marvel) – The first issue of the new Guardians series featured the expected, yet profoundly effective combination of high concept insanity and unabashed comic book fun that Donny Cates brings to the table as well as absolutely gorgeous visuals from Geoff Shaw. Couple those elements with a pretty tremendous cliffhanger and picking up the second issue should be a no-brainer…Buuut, if you need a little more to entice you, and not even the main plot detailing the search for the new host of Thanos’s consciousness will get those ducats outta your pocket, you should just know that you’ll also witness Star-Lord deep space drunk dial his ex, Kitty Pryde. Quill car wrecks are the best car wrecks. (Kris)

WULFBORNE #1 $3.99 (Scout) – What’s the best way to deal with losing the one you love? Probably taking time to deal with the grief and eventually working toward acceptance, right? That’s not how Wulfborne handles it. Instead, he jumps head first into the Underworld and starts fighting minotaurs, fish creatures and other strange monsters. And all on the whispered promise of sweet voiced angel that she will “will heal your broken heart“. I don’t know if Wulfborne is adept at making smart decisions but I’m about to find out. (Andrew)

HIGH LEVEL #1 $3.99 (Vertigo) – In the near future, humanity semi-permanently fucks itself and civilization as we know it is destroyed. Hundreds of years later, we’ve dug ourselves out of the dirt once again. In this new world, a smuggler is tasked with transporting a child of great importance to a city of myth called High Level. A city from which, it should be noted, no one ever returns. Doesn’t sound like a place you’d want to take your potential messiah children, and what-have-you, but hey, that’s just me. (Kris)

UNCANNY X-MEN #12 $3.99 (Marvel) – The X-Men are gone but that’s okay. Cyclops and Wolverine are back and they’ll make it all better. How? By making an ALL NEW, ALL DIFFERENT X-Men! Okay, so they’re not new….but they’re kind of different. Matthew Rosenberg (Geek Hard’s Comic Creator guest of 2018) is killing it on Uncanny. And Cyke and Wolvie aren’t the only folks to return. Salvador Larroca is back with art that’s on fire! (It’s not literally on fire. You can purchase the comic without fear of burning yourself. Promise.) (Andrew)

NAOMI #2 $3.99 (DC Comics) – Bendis and Jamal Campbell set up a pretty damn intriguing mystery in the debut issue of this new series and I am most definitely keen on falling deeper down the rabbit hole this month. Just what connection does Naomi’s adoption have with the last time a meta human visited her sleepy town? And what does Superman’s recent throwdown on Main Street have to do with both events?! TELL ME, BENDIS! TELL MEEEEEEE! (Kris)

STRONGHOLD #1 $3.99 (Aftershock) – Ever get the feeling that the world is just one big prison designed to hold a powerful alien prisoner who doesn’t remember who he really is? You should trust those feelings. A group known as The Stronghold have been tasked with keeping this alien in a false sense of reality so he never figures out his true destiny. But what happens when one of his chosen “handlers” falls in love with him and is determined to give the game away? This book’s written by Phil Hester and I’ll always give his stuff a try. The dude did help make Ollie Queen cool again in the early 2000s. (Andrew)

GHOST RIDER TP BOOK 01 WAR FOR HEAVEN $34.99 (Marvel) – Before Jason Aaron became the Marvel Architect that we all know today, he was following a pretty damn similar career trajectory as the one Donny Cates is on now. Early on, he had a few smaller creator owned titles that garnered some rock solid buzz and the attention of folks at Marvel. Before putting him on any major titles, the House of Ideas offered to let him take a crack at a few B and C level characters. Our man Jason specifically requested to work on Ghost Rider. While Ghostie had recently been relaunched under a different writer at the time, it was struggling to find its footing and sales reflected that. Then Aaron took over. Within a matter of months, sales were much healthier and Aaron was allowed to pen a pretty lengthy arc that, in this writer’s opinion, is one of the greatest Ghost Rider runs ever committed to paper. To get a full idea of what I’m talking about pick up this new trade on Wednesday. If you’re a fan of the Rider, you won’t be disappointed. (Kris)

BLACK WIDOW #2 $3.99 (Marvel) – I recommended issue 1 of this series and was glad I did. Those Soska Sisters know how to tell a ripping Black Widow yarn, they do! It might be a Widow’s tale but it’s obvious that the Soskas do love their old-school Marvel Comics Presents as Natasha is in Madripoor, at the Princess Bar no less, sporting an eye-patch and hanging with Tyger Tiger. It’s fun to see Nat visiting Wolverine’s old haunts. Hopefully, she’ll get into as much trouble as he did. Don’t think I have to hope too hard for that one. This book is already a barrel of fun and we’re just getting started! (Andrew)

So there you go. That’s this week’s New Comics. Check these books out and let us know what you think. We’ll be back next week with more choice cuts of comic goodness.